It's hard enough photographing birds in flight - for some added fun, try catching them as they pass in front of a moon!

These Greater Snow Geese are turning into the wind and lowering their landing gear before entering the water where they will roost for the night. The moon wasn't totally full but hey, I'll take what I can.

Canon 7D with the 500L f4 lens with 1.4 II extender on a tripod @ 1/1000, f 13, ISO 400, - 1/3 exposure compensation.

Cropped for composition purposes and to eliminate an unwanted fourth bird and to format to a 12 x 16 frame. The late afternoon light gave a golden glow to the geese and the cyan sky hadn't yet taken on its magenta hue. As the moon rose higher in the sky, it presented with more detail and contrast, but by then it was too high for the passage of the geese.

One of the problems with this type of shot is either the moon or the birds will be in focus, and not both, because of the long focal length and relative lack of depth-of-field of the 500mm lens and 1.4 extender.

I would probably have had greater success in getting both in focus using a 70-200mm or 300mm lens, but at the cost of capturing the action farther away. In both cases, there is also the fun of co-ordinating the release of the shutter just at the right moment!

Ideally, I should have at least removed the 1.4 extender. I didn't do so, because I needed it for other shots of the geese as they arrived at tree-top level at a distance - that is the price to pay for trying to do two types of shots at the same time :-)

Cheers,

Mike